page_title: Gerry Rafferty
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: Gerry Rafferty / Early years
caption_attribution_description: Foxbar, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, UK.
context_page_description: Gerald Rafferty was a Scottish rock singer-songwriter. His solo hits in the late 1970s included "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line" and "Night Owl", as well as "Stuck in the Middle with You", which was recorded with the band Stealers Wheel in 1973.
  Rafferty was born into a working-class family in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. His mother taught him both Irish and Scottish folk songs when he was a boy; later, he was influenced by the music of The Beatles and Bob Dylan. He joined the folk-pop group The Humblebums in 1969. After they disbanded in 1971, he recorded his first solo album, Can I Have My Money Back? Rafferty and Joe Egan formed the group Stealers Wheel in 1972 and produced several hits, most notably "Stuck in the Middle with You" and "Star". In 1978, he recorded his second solo album, City to City, which included "Baker Street", his most popular song.
context_section_description: Rafferty was born on 16 April 1947 into a working-class family of Irish Catholic origin in Underwood Lane in Paisley, a son and grandson of coal miners. A son of Joseph and Mary (Skeffington) Rafferty, he had two brothers, Jim and Joe (died 1988).
  Rafferty grew up in a council house in the town's Ferguslie Park, in Underwood Lane and was educated at St Mirin's Academy. His Irish-born father, an alcoholic, was a miner and lorry driver who died when Rafferty was 16. Rafferty learned both Irish and Scottish folk songs as a boy. He recalled, "My father was Irish, so growing up in Paisley I was hearing all these songs when I was two or three. Songs like "She Moves Through the Fair", which my mother sings beautifully. And a whole suite of Irish traditional songs and Scots traditional songs". Heavily influenced by folk music and the music of the Beatles and Bob Dylan, Rafferty started to write his own material.
caption: Foxbar in Paisley, Renfrewshire, where Rafferty grew up
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